The laughter of ghosts

Holocaust humour in Cătălin Mihuleac’s novel Deborah

Bibliographic Data

ID22096238
AuthorsArleen Ionescu (0000-0002-5764-8612, West University of Timişoara), Florina Andercău (0009-0000-0646-0778, West University of Timişoara)
Year2026
Volume14
Issue2
Pages215-233
Publication date2026-06-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Humour Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2307-700X • E-ISSN: 2307-700X
PublisherEstonian Literary Museum Scholarly Press (PUBLISHER • EE)
DOI10.7592/ejhr.2026.14.2.1187
OpenAlexW7166555434
LanguageEN
References cited31

This article deals with representing the Holocaust through a humorous lens. After discussing the pros and the cons of using humour in different works since the 1990s to represent such a tragedy as the Holocaust, in the second section, we will present the author that our case study focuses on, Cătălin Mihuleac, and his novel Deborah. The other sections attempt to answer three main research questions: How does Mihuleac use humour in Deborah to depict the tragedy of the Jews in Romania, particularly the deportation to Transnistria? How can humour theories be applied to analyse this novel? What insights does this novel provide regarding Holocaust-themed humour in literature? The third section explains what happened in Romania during the Holocaust and why its memory is still difficult at present, since many Romanians refuse to understand that their nation was involved in such atrocious crimes. The fourth section is a synthesis of the humour theories that we will engage with. The last section brings examples of how Mihuleac approaches the various theories of humour and what kind of effects it has on the readers. We will eventually ask whether this way of narrating the story is efficient or not

Deportation · Laughter · Section (typography) · The Holocaust · Tragedy (event) · European Cultural and National Identity · Humor Studies and Applications · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

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